Vulnerable children left in home with damp and mould after complaint handling failures by city council, Ombudsman finds

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration from Stoke-on-Trent City Council for a lack of stage one complaint response on two separate occasions, which left a resident and her two vulnerable children in a home with damp and mould.

The resident never received a formal stage one response to her complaint against the landlord for its failure to act on the damp and mould, with the landlord saying it had responded over the phone.

When the problems persisted over the coming months, she once again raised a complaint and received no formal response. Works were agreed around the complaint, but this was outside of the complaint response.

After being contacted by the resident, the Ombudsman was forced to intervene to get the landlord to escalate the complaint to its final stage and respond to the resident.

Whilst on this occasion the landlord did make a final stage response, the resident was left dissatisfied as the response did not address the outstanding damp and mould, toilet, or remaining garden repairs, and the works that it had agreed to still being incomplete.

The Ombudsman has told the council to apologise to the resident and pay £1,000 in compensation. It is also expected to review its processes and staff training needs in respect of its compliments, comments and complaints procedure, and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, drew attention to the Complaint Handling Code put in place by the Ombudsman, which indicates clearly that landlords must issue residents with a formal stage one response.

“In previous cases we have seen significant delays in responses but for a resident to receive nothing, when her two vulnerable children are living in a damp and mould home, is completely unacceptable. Another important part of the Code is addressing all of the residents’ concerns within the response, which again the landlord did not do," he said.

Blakeway addded that as the Code becomes statutory with the passing of the Social Housing Regulation Act, landlords must improve and remain vigilant of their responsibilities. The Ombudsman is holding monthly Code drop-in sessions to help landlords provide a better service to residents in this area, but Blakeway stated that training staff on these issues was "absolutely vital too".

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for how the landlord dealt with the damp and mould in the property.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council apologised, saying that "the response our customer received in this case fell below the standards expected of our teams and by our customers.”

The council said it had made the appropriate compensation payment, and was committed to continuously improving services and learning from mistakes.

Stoke added that it had:

• Reviewed and updated all processes and procedures in relation to Damp and Mould complaints including the development of a stand-alone Damp and Mould policy together with updated guidance on reporting and treating damp and mould.
• Updated the overall Repairs and Maintenance Policy and Voids Policy. "These policies have been designed with residents in mind, to ensure works are delivered efficiently and effectively including the making and keeping of appointments and an improved lettable standard."
• Completed a review of overall complaint handling across all service areas including Unitas, a repairs and maintenance service provider, incorporating improved monitoring and oversight arrangements so that focus remains on resolving issues for customers at the earliest opportunity. It has also improved arrangements for initial contact and further communication with customers, standardised letter templates and also ensured that all complaints are responded to in writing.
• Delivered ongoing training across the workforce, highlighting the potential health impacts of Damp and Mould on vulnerable customers and across complaints handling procedures incorporating the need for accurate and timely record-keeping and complying with the Housing Ombudsman handling code and remedies guidance.

"This work is part of our ongoing approach to continually improving the service we offer to customers and placing customer feedback at the heart of our service improvement approach," Stoke added.